Benjamin Thomas Rortvedt was born on September 25, 1997, in Madison, Wisconsin, and now works as a professional baseball catcher in Major League Baseball. The American athlete has played for a number of teams in the majors, which shows how unpredictable life is in professional sports.

Rortvedt’s life changed a lot in the 2025 season. He started the year in a Tampa Bay uniform, but he didn’t stay there long. He was put on waivers, but the Los Angeles Dodgers traded for him in July, giving him a new home. Rortvedt joined one of baseball’s most famous teams in the middle of the season, which was another step in his changing career.

Who is Ben Rortvedt? 

Benjamin Thomas Rortvedt grew up in Verona, Wisconsin, which is not far from Madison. He loved baseball so much that it became his future. The Twins saw his potential early on and chose him 56th overall in the 2016 draft, giving him a $900,000 signing bonus to back up their choice. After five years of hard work in the minor leagues, he finally made it to the big leagues in 2021, ready to show that he could play behind the plate at the highest level of baseball.

Rortvedt’s career has been anything but predictable since that first performance. He has played for four different teams in the league, starting with the Minnesota Twins, then moving to the New York Yankees’ pinstripes, then to the Tampa Bay Rays, where he did some of his best defensive work in 2024. The Dodgers signed him in September 2025. His left-handed swing makes him more versatile, but it’s really his glove work and mental toughness that keep teams interested. Rortvedt has shown that he can handle injuries and adapt to new teams, which is important in a sport that often loses and gains talent.

 Ben Rortvedt’s Parents & Family Background

Rortvedt comes from a mixed family that made him who he is today. His father, Eric, taught him to love weight training, and his family includes his stepmom Jean, stepdad Joe O’Leksy, brother Connor, and stepsister Taylor. These Wisconsin roots run deep, as shown by the fact that he took time out of a Brewers game to celebrate his mom’s birthday. This shows that home is more important to him than baseball.

He doesn’t talk about his marriage in public and never says his wife’s name, but everything changed in August 2024 when their first child was born. He had to use both paternity leave and the family emergency list, which made it clear what his priorities were. There’s no celebrity drama or tabloid news here; it’s just a guy trying to change diapers and play two games at once. His dad built a firm foundation of fitness and family values that he can now pass on to his own family. This gives him something to lean on as he goes from team to team and deals with everything that professional baseball throws at him.

Ben Rortvedt’s Contract, Salary & Net Worth 

Rortvedt signed a one-year deal with Tampa Bay that was fully guaranteed for $1,125,000. This means that before taxes and agent fees, he will make just over a million dollars in 2025. That number is what he made for the entire season, but when you take into account the time he actually spent with the Rays, his prorated salary was $362,903. The 27-year-old’s time in Tampa didn’t go as planned; he only hit .095 with two runs and six RBIs. On July 31, he was traded to Los Angeles in a three-team deal that also included Cincinnati.

Rortvedt spent some time getting back into the swing of things at Triple-A Oklahoma City after the Los Angeles Dodgers got him. He played in 17 games and hit .228 with two home runs and six RBIs. Salary Sport says that his current net worth is about $1.4 million. This isn’t a lot of money for someone in a sport where careers can end with one severe injury. These numbers show what it’s like to be a good role player instead of a star in the league in 2025, when a backup catcher has been around the league and struggled at the plate. It’s comfortable enough to support his growing family, but it’s not the huge contracts that make headlines in the offseason.

Ben Rortvedt’s Career Highlights 

Rortvedt makes money with the glove, not the bat. Coaches have always been impressed with his pitch framing and throwing arm, which is why pitchers trust him when the game is on the line. During the 2024 season with Tampa Bay, he had his best offensive showing yet: he played 110 games, hit .247, hit three home runs and drove in 28 runs. This showed that he could do more than just play defense. That was a vast improvement from his time with the Yankees in 2023, when he was hurt and only hit .118 in 32 games.

He has played in 227 major league games so far, and he has shown that he is a reliable backup who won’t lose you games behind the plate. In 2024, the Rays saw how valuable he was when his defense helped them win games with walk-off hits and kept the other team’s running games in check.

His path from being a second-round pick to a big leaguer wasn’t easy. In 2019, he got a non-roster spring training invite from Minnesota and worked his way up. Before he made his major league debut in 2021, his minor league numbers (.667 OPS, 17 homers) showed that he could really hit, but he hasn’t fully figured it out yet.